|
|
|
|
|
|
very pleasant and amusing. John smiled also. Alinor watched the flash of his teeth beneath the dark mustache and wondered why they were not pointed more sharply. Surely a ravening wolf should have sharper teeth. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Oh, do sit down, Lady Alinor." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The high-pitched whine drew Alinor's eyes before she needed, in courtesy, to lift them to the king's. It was Lady Ela, well-wrapped in furred garments, with a maid standing behind her so that she could lean back on that support if sitting upright became too exhausting. Another maid hurried up to remove a packet of cooling stones and thrust some newly heated ones beneath her mistress' feet. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Do sit down," Lady Ela repeated, a trifle impatiently. "The wind has been blowing right through the space left for you, and my left side is aching with cold." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Instinctively, Alinor looked up at the cloth of the tent, which was perfectly unmoving, and then, as she turned to sit, at the pennons, which hung limp in the still air. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I think I must have been mad to come here," Ela whined. "It is all William's fault. He insisted I would take pleasure in seeing the jousting. Why should I take pleasure in it? It will serve him right if I fall ill and die of this cold. And I know I will have a painful ague in my side for weeks and weeks, and he will sayoh, he is a monster about such matters!that no one could have taken cold on so mild a day." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I do not feel very cold myself," Alinor admitted, "but I am used to riding out in all weathers." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Oh, you should not do so," Isabella put in, leaning forward across her husband to discuss this entrancing subject. "It is dreadful for the complexion to expose it in that way." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Ladies, ladies," John urged in his sweet, mellow voice, "please allow Lady Alinor to watch the proceedings. After all, she must have a sharp interest in them, |
|
|
|
|
|